Adjust individual colors in an image


Using the Selective Color adjustment, you can adjust the hue, saturation, and brightness of a precise color range in an image without affecting any other colors. The Selective Color adjustment features 8 individual color ranges — reds, oranges, yellows, greens, cyans, blues, violets, and magentas — divided according to the color spectrum. Above each color range, you’ll see a handy histogram that shows you just how much of that particular color is in your image.

The Selective Color adjustment can be applied directly to a single layer or, using a color adjustments layer, to multiple layers in a composition.

Edit the currently selected layer#

  • Choose Format > Color Adjustments > Selective Color from the Format menu at the top of your screen.
  • In the Tools sidebar, click Color Adjustments and turn on the Selective Color adjustment.
  • Press A on your keyboard and turn on the Selective Color adjustment.

Edit multiple layers in a composition#

  • Choose Insert > Color Adjustments from the Insert menu at the top of your screen and turn on the Selective Color adjustment in the Tool Options pane.
  • Click Insert a layer at the top of the Layers sidebar, choose Color Adjustments, and turn on the Selective Color adjustment.
  • Press Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + A on your keyboard, and turn on the Selective Color adjustment.

Make adjustments to precise colors in an image#

  1. Click to select one of the color ranges in the Selective Color adjustment.
  1. Drag the sliders in the Selective Color adjustment to make adjustments to your selected color range.
    • Hue: Drag the Hue slider to shift the hue of the colors in the selected color range towards a neighboring color range. Press and hold the Option ⌥ key before dragging if you’d like to extend the range of the Hue slider beyond 100%. You can also enter a percentage value from –400% to 400%.
    • Saturation: Drag the Saturation slider to the right to make the colors in the selected color range more intense, or to the left to make them less intense.
    • Brightness: Drag the Brightness slider to the right to make the colors in the selected color range brighter, or to the left to make them darker. Press and hold the Option ⌥ key before dragging if you’d like to extend the range of the Brightness slider beyond 100%. You can also enter a percentage value from –200% to 200%.

Automatically enhance individual colors in an image#

The ML adjustment improves individual color ranges in your image automatically using a machine learning algorithm trained on millions of professional images.

  • Click ML next to the Selective Color adjustment to automatically improve image colors.

Show before and after or reset adjustments#

Show Original: Click the Show Original button or press Control ⌃ + M on your keyboard to see what the image looks like without any color adjustments.

Show Split Comparison: Option ⌥ – click the Show Original button, press Control ⌃ + C on your keyboard, or force-click the canvas.

To reset all Color Adjustments, click Reset at the bottom of the Color Adjustments pane.